Hola de Semana de Cambios!

We had an up and down week this week, as one day we worked super hard, the next E´ Whitton got sick, the next we had Elder Quenton L Cook speak to us, and the next day E´ Whitton was sick again, and then we worked super hard....it just seemed like a crazy week. I´ve got to admit, after this past week my brain feels a little fried! 

 

  On August 21, 2013 we had a visit from Quentin L. Cook.  He came and spoke with our missionaries and left us with a beautiful blessing.  When an authority comes to Lima for a visit, the members work for weeks getting the chapels ready,  painting the building, cleaning, working on the grounds, planning everything to be just perfect.  The day of the meeting they put beautiful flower arrangements everywhere.  When everything is ready, a quiet excitement builds until the visiting authority finally arrives.  We took this group picture.  We couldn't get everyone in one picture so this group is sitting on the left side and...

...this is the other half of the group.  President and Sister Borg, Elder Cook and his wife,  Elder C. Scott Grow and his wife and most important of all OUR MISSIONARIES!

 
We dropped the date for Edith yesterday when she didn´t come to church for the 3rd week in a row. She´s been wanting to be baptized for almost 3 months now, but just can´t seem to overcome her trials to put the Lord first, and take a step of faith. We´re really working with her, but it´s hard to keep her thinking about the gospel when we aren´t there.

We´ve got Franchesca and Farid with dates as well, but they are in Equador this week, so they couldn´t come to church. We´re going to be keeping in touch by phone up until they get back. We are striving to be ready for baptism this saturday!

Elder Whitton is progressing a whole bunch, and learning spanish like crazy! I know he´s going to learn to speak really well. E´Whitton also taught me an awesome way to do daily planning! By following the same steps as weekly planning! It makes it so much easier to prioritize and make sure that we are spending our time with the right people, or in other words, teaching people, not lessons.

I´m super excited to train! I hope that I know enough to have the level of intelligence to take these big concepts of being a great missionary and boiling them down until a child, or a new elder in this case, can understand. 

So the big news for today is that I finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish! At 9:00:35 this morning. So awesome. I have had such a spiritual flood of experiences over this past ¨Book of Mormon Transfer¨ and I know it has and will make a huge difference in my mission from now on.

So I know absolutely nothing about what you are doing in Caja Marca, except that there are kids involved. Can you please fill me in? haha, I feel like I always ask, but I never find out anything. Just pictures or something would be great! Sierra´s blog is the coolest thing on the planet.

Ok, I´ve got to go! I love you all! Thank you for your support!

Elder Hicken